Game 39 at Edmonton: Scoring Chances and Observations

After watching this game on Christmas Eve (I then felt a need to dive deep into a few cups of strong egg nog), I decided that I would not destroy my holiday. I waited until today to write about this game. I figured that it would allow the anger that built up within me to settle, and maybe by that point I would have words to explain what happened. Sadly, I don’t. I’ll try my best though, and then pray for something better tonight.

Scoring Chances

–

Even Strength

PP/SH

Chance +/-

Player

For

Vs.

For

Vs.

–

Pardy

1

8

0

0

-7

Stuart

1

3

0

2

-4

Trouba

0

4

2

6

-8

Kane

1

8

2

0

-5

Jokinen

2

3

1

1

-1

Peluso

0

1

0

0

-1

Ladd

0

3

2

1

-2

Wright

1

1

0

5

-5

Little

0

4

2

1

-3

Thorburn

2

4

0

0

-2

Wheeler

0

4

3

0

-1

Byfuglien

2

7

2

3

-6

Enstrom

1

5

2

7

-9

Setoguchi

2

3

0

0

-1

Bogosian

1

5

2

0

-2

Scheifele

0

8

2

0

-6

O’Dell

0

2

0

0

-2

Frolik

1

7

0

7

-13

–

Even Strength

PP/SH

Chance +/-

Player

For

Vs.

For

Vs.

–

Petry

4

1

4

2

5

Hall

8

1

2

0

9

Joensuu

2

2

1

0

1

Eberle

3

1

6

1

7

N. Schultz

4

0

1

2

3

J. Schultz

9

1

2

1

9

Gazdic

1

0

0

0

1

Ference

6

1

3

2

6

Gordon

4

0

2

1

5

Potter

4

2

2

1

3

Lander

2

0

0

2

0

Perron

8

2

4

2

8

Yakupov

3

0

0

0

3

Belov

5

1

3

0

7

Hemsky

4

0

3

0

7

Gagner

2

1

3

0

4

Nugent-Hopkins

7

2

4

1

8

Smyth

4

0

4

1

7

Team

1st (ES)

2nd (ES)

3rd (ES)

Total (ES)

Winnipeg

2 (2)

2 (1)

3 (0)

7 (3)

Edmonton

9 (7)

7 (7)

9 (2)

25 (16)

Observations

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

Yuck.

Yuck.

Kane, Scheifele and Frolik very rapidly turned from an offensive line into a complete turnover machine. That’s probably why you don’t want to put a line centered by a rookie, which should really be protected by effective line matching, consistently on the ice against an opponent’s top line. Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and Perron absolutely dominated this group. Hopefully Claude Noel can learn from this, but I have my doubts.

Special teams were a huge factor in this game. Both teams may have gone 25% on the power play, but the Oilers really generated a lot more opportunities and momentum off of their chances. They can’t keep killing themselves by taking so many stupid penalties. It’s getting ridiculous. I get that the fiasco at the end of the game played into the final total, but the penalty minutes in this game were 78 to 25. That’s insanity.

Stuart was actually one of the better Jets in this game. That should summarize how bad this game really was.

Speaking of Stuart, he really drags Trouba down. The broadcast spoke of how Trouba must “really love” playing with Stuart, and I have some serious doubts about that. There is no way this kid enjoys having to usually make up for terrible mistakes. I’m also sure he probably dislikes having very few offensive chances. Please stop putting them together.

I really don’t know what else to say about that game. It was a stinker. Poor choices by Noel likely didn’t help, but nobody showed up for this game. Yuck.

Final Thought

I’m really curious as to how Claude Noel will approach this next game. I really wonder how he is going to change things up against the Wild, but I am expecting some sort of alterations. My bets? Ladd-Little-Wheeler stays the same. Thorburn somehow gets increased minutes, Kane-Scheifele-Frolik gets broken up, and the defensive groupings get all interchanged. It’ll be madness.